The block, controlled mainly by China National Petroleum
Corp., or CNPC, has “very good potential for oil and gas and
will help us get over the difficulties we’ve been through,” Al-Jazz said in an e-mailed statement today from Khartoum, the
capital.

Sudan lost three-quarters of its oil production of 490,000
barrels per day, the third-biggest output in sub-Saharan Africa,
when South Sudan gained independence on July 9. The two
countries are locked in a dispute about what fees South Sudan
should pay its northern neighbour to ship crude via a pipeline
through Sudan. South Sudan has said it halted oil output until
the dispute is resolved.

Block 6 in Sudan consists of eight oilfields operated by
Petro Energy E&P Co., which is 95 percent owned by CNPC, while
the rest is held by Sudapet, Sudan’s state oil company. The
block produces more than 40,000 barrels of crude per day,
according to data on CNPC’s website.

Sudan on Jan. 15 opened bidding for six new oil blocks in
northern and western Sudan, the Red Sea coast and Blue Nile
state.